Eye for An Eye - November 23, 2004
Alright..I feel that…Soldiers in the Hood is pretty tight. I like the way you throw up that Christian set, it comes across a lot more real than a lot of those phonies you hear on TV, talking all that crazy, ‘turn the other cheek’ madness.
Holeup there now cuz..that ‘turn the other cheek’ isn’t madness or crazy, that’s a real part of the gospel of Christ.
Yeah..but c’mon now D, you ain’t got to front to kick it! You can holler you’re a Christian from the rooftops for all I care, but you know and I know that if a n’ga hits you in the jaw, you’d turn right around and give him one of them 2 piece combos.
Well..turning the other cheek and defending yourself are two different things.
Not according to all those pacifist Christians, you know, the ones that refuse to even own any guns or weapons because God said ‘thou shall not kill’.
Actually, the precise Hebrew word in that scripture says, ‘thou shalt not murder’.
What’s the difference?
Killing someone in self-defense or when defending your family or country is not murder.
It’s still a loss of human life though.
Yeah..but when you read the Old Testament and see all of the original laws for man, you’ll see that God had a justice system imposed. They had capital punishment laws to be enforced by community acts such as stoning, for various offenses like raping a woman (Deut 22:25) or committing homosexual acts (Lev 20:13).
So you’re saying that you’re down with the ‘eye for an eye’ (Ex 21:24) philosophy?
As much as there’s a large part of me that craves immediate justice when wrongs are committed, I know that I wouldn’t be real in my quest to be like Jesus if I expounded vengeance and retaliation. Vengeance is not ours, it’s the Lord’s.
Yeah..but what is a n’ga supposed to do if somebody hits him upside the head?? If some white dude would have thrown a cup of beer on you from the stands, you would have ran out there and tried to whup his az just like Artest did!!
Well..I think you have to put everything in context. Artest had already ‘turned the other cheek’ to some extent when he backed away from Ben Wallace and didn’t pursue that fight.
Yeah..but that’s Ben Wallace!! Artest wasn’t no d’mn fool, don’t NOBODY want to mess around with Big Ben!!
I’m not trying to defend Artest actions, I’m just saying that as a man, I know if somebody threw a cup of whatever on me, I would have been in there face figuring out what their problem was.
Ahhh! But that’s not ‘turning the other cheek’ is it?? (smiling)
No..it’s not. But I know things are a lot different when emotions and adrenaline and beer are running high. I’m sure Artest wishes he would have handled that situation a lot differently once he had time to reflect back on it..
That’s only because Stern took all that money away from him!
It’s more than the money..it’s a pride thing, especially with black men.
So now it’s a ‘black’ thing??
No…it’s really a ‘man’ thing, but for black men, I think this pressure of having our manhood challenged is more magnified. So sensitivity levels are heightened and that powder keg of passion and anger is a lot more volatile and ready to explode.
So now you’re saying every black man is ready to go off on a white boy?
It depends on several things, like what they’re going through in their life..with their job, their family, their finances, their health, etc., there’s a lot of people living on the silent edge of desperation waiting for that one last thing to just ‘go off’, you never know what people are dealing with in their lives. And that’s not just black men, that’s everybody..white folks, Mexicans, women.
So what do you think is the best way to handle when somebody comes at you disrespectfully?
See if there’s a problem that needs to be worked out..but if they’re not willing to talk rationally, you need to get away from them.
You mean run??
If that’s what it takes. Jesus and the apostles spent a large part of their lives on the run from angry mobs and men intent on killing them.
Is that what you teach your kids?
I teach my kids to first and foremost, do whatever they need to do to make it home safely. I know there may be some instances when people just won’t let them make it peacefully, and they’ll be put in the position where they literally have to fight or take a butt whupping. As much as I want them to know Christ in their heart and live the life of one who knows the Lord, I also know that Jesus was very much familiar with all those haters out there. I know Jesus believed in having some firepower too, because He told the disciples that two swords were sufficient. (Luke 22:36-38) and when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Peter had a sword on him that he used to cut off one of the soldiers ear, which Jesus healed.(Matt 26:50-54, John 18:11). So even Jesus’ closest circle kept some heat for those haters. But when you really start examining the scripture, you see that God put the ultimate combination punch out there for us to learn from.
Jesus threw 2-piece combos on fools too??
I’m not talking about fist punches, I’m talking about the Word of God. When you read the Old Testament and it’s law, it’s primarily full of laws for earthly existence. God gave His people a code of conduct, a law, and it was meant to separate them from the rest of the heathen world. From those who worshipped idols or those given to the lusts of the flesh.
So you’re saying the Old Testament is like that opening jab?
Right! The Old Testament is that setup jab..but the knockout punch is that New Testament..that gospel of Christ. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, He came to fulfill it.
What does that mean?
It means, that all those rules and laws that God placed on the children of Israel in the Old Testament are still intact, but when you read throughout the original law and prophets, you’ll see that God always promised us a Messiah, to deliver us. The New Testament, or that ‘knockout punch’, is a new covenant that focuses primarily on repentance and spiritual development rather than physical existence. When you start living under that new covenant with God, you’ll recognize that God intends to use hardships and difficulties to help a person repent, change our attitudes, values and standards so that we can develop them spiritually. I guess in a way the old covenant showed how to be a blessed person on earth, while the new covenant prepares a person to leave the earth.
That’s pretty deep. I didn’t realize there was a difference in the Bible like that.
Some people think that the Bible contradicts itself in Ephesians 2:15 when Paul says that Jesus abolished in his flesh the law with it’s commandments and regulations, but when you study that word that Paul used ‘abolish’, it refers to destroying the barriers that separated Jews from gentile believers. The original Jewish laws found in the Old Testament excludes gentiles from God’s blessing or forces them to become Jews.
What’s a gentile?
In this sense, anyone who is not Jewish. Christ came to fulfill the Law; the moral code is still in place, but the secondary purpose of the law and ordinances (to separate Jews from gentiles) is set aside or made useless.
How do you know all this stuff about the Bible?
I read it daily and I pray for understanding as I study it and meditate on the Lord throughout my day. I reached a point where I just had to know Him for myself, and I read the Bible and I found Him.
So you’re saying that you’re ready to ‘turn that other cheek’??
Uhhh..well…I’m still praying on that one. But I know that I’m a lot more patient and understanding person now that I have the Lord in my heart compared to what I used to be like before I knew Him.
Awww n’ga, if a white boy had poured beer all over you, you would have been in the stands choking him just like Artest did!! (laughing)
Naww..I probably coulda let the dude who threw the cup make it..but the one that ran out on the court and jumped up in Artest’s face?
2-piece combo?
Hmph! You already know!!
